Some sane advice from a crazy person (crazy person being me…and maybe other people)

This has been one entry I wanted to spread for over 6 months now. I’ve reached the limit of how people can be either stupid or careless around me. Repressing it any longer and there may be an incident so I’m going to come out bluntly and openly about certain topics that do bug me in day to day living. I might be crazy when I say it, but if you live like an outsider looking at your own society; you would understand why I have to shout this to the world (or at least on WordPress.) There’s no discernable topic, but the overall intent to tell everyone to straighten up and fly right. Most parents would’ve told you this or an authority figure if you were really down that poop chute, but my message is pretty clear and to the point. Though may have some logical flaws to my ideas, but here is some advice and observations of people in the world and how I think about it.

Supermarkets

One big one some of you will notice is the Express Lane. 15 items or less, straightforward enough to could to 15. One I don’t really understand is why have one lane for this? In a city, people buy just enough to feed a family. Usually in bulk and usually under 10 or less. Walking into Sobeys and seeing a large line up close to the Express Lane doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It’s literally overflow from the Express Lane getting to the the 15+ lanes. Sure you can come back and say “2 of the same item is still one item.” Hell no it ain’t! If there was 2 parallel universes where you can tunnel to one and take your twin’s item then yes, one item. But if you have that technology, why do you even buy stuff anyways? Just take it from the other universe. Sci-fi aside; 15 items or less; stupid, just have lines for 1 item or more. If you need a quick snack, go to a fast food joint. Supermarkets are for groceries.

Store bands, seriously? You’re this tasty for a dollar less than name brand? Yeah. Surprisingly store brand tastes way better than name brand. Compared to all the ingredients into making name brand kettle chips versus store brand, store has more taste for the price and it’s usually 1-2 dollars under. Not quite sure whether it’s method of cooking or preparation, but name brand has a run for their money. Not just in chips and junk food, what about pre-made packaged foods like canned and frozen vegetables. It’s the same damn thing in the same damn size, yet it’s 40 cents to a buck cheaper. You think a large corporation wouldn’t need to make as much since they can pay off everyone pretty easily with their popularity, but no. Of course, it comes down to advertisements. But I don’t really think a hot shot celebrity making probably more I’ll ever make in my lifetime would be relevant to what I’m eating…ever! So why the hell are people paying this company to pay off this filthy rich scum to endorse a product which would be sold for more than store brand? What the hell? If that 40 cents goes into a celebrity’s bank account to entertain me for 5 brief seconds, screw you I’m with store brand. Tastes better than this crap anyways.

Lastly, why can’t all supermarkets in urban centres just open for 24 hours? Seems like you do still get business even at 3 in the morning. I just came back from Sobeys with 2 bags of groceries; if Price Choppers was open 24/7, I would be saving more money than I would at Sobeys. It would totally create grocery chaos that they would fight to the end for which stores to keep open just to get the few extra bills in. Honestly whoever figured out insomniacs needed food at that time of day, you would’ve trademarked and made millions. You sir/ma’am, are legend.

Roads, Cars and Pedestrians

One honest thing I see when I walk down the street is the monstrosity of unnecessary space for cars. You need a place to store it and a method of travel for it. Back in the day, streets are for the people to walk on. If I started walking on a 4 lane road, I would get arrested for jaywalking now. At least this idea doesn’t apply in Kensington where every last Sunday (or was it everyone other Sunday) you can walk on the road. Doesn’t matter if you choose to walk for or against, you can even play a damn guitar or talk on your cell phone without seeming looking like a careless idiot. Yeah sure it makes perfect sense to have cars take up 95% of the whole road. It’s the twenty-freaking-first century, we’re trying to go green here. City cars; if you own anything else, please live in your care and stop wasting space. An SUV carrying one person isn’t the best idea to get around, you might as well stop and pick up hitchhikers so at least you get your money’s worth of gasoline. There should be a way to licence vehicles according to need. I know freedom of choice is awesome, but when it comes to cars; I wish we didn’t have that luxury for certain purposes. The sales rep should just provide you a suitable form of transportation depending on passengers you will normally transport or the amount of storage you need. If you don’t have those requirements, you can always buy yourself a damn bus pass. Upside to the bus pass, you’re giving back to the community (technically). If you’re just in a hurry, bus pass. Need to just go somewhere far in terms of walking, bus pass. Other than that, it grinds my gears when people just drive a gas-guzzler and say “Well I wish I could save on money rather than driving everywhere.” Well asshat, it’s called public transit…use it!

Oh and let me get started on walking distance. Walking distance in my vocabulary is the length in which you can make a round trip by walking. So if you can walk somewhere in 6 hours and walk back for dinner, that’s walking distance. It just extremely annoys me that people in cities judge distance based on city blocks. “7 blocks is too far, I’ll drive there instead.” Oh really? You walk slow enough to the point where 7 blocks takes 6 hours? I’m talking about in the city, (you suburbanites might equate from anywhere from 2-5 city blocks per suburban block.) Takes me an hour to walk to walk ten to 15 (Toronto is kind of irregular in places). Meaning I can do an easy 60 in 6, my pace is a nice gentle pace that a flat surface wouldn’t be much of an undertaking. If you want to drive somewhere, it has to be over your walking distance. If you’re lazy and drive, screw you too; quit being lazy and start walking, you can lose a few pounds and be happier about it.

English

In the western world, English is key to living. Not knowing would put you in the dark on a lot of things. Of course we live in an interesting time where old school and new school collide where new school know their mother tongue and the social tongue. Old school being they got here and have no clue but made it out okay. Though at times there are an assemblage of words and phrases which troubles us and may confuse or disappoint others on what the hell you’re trying to convey. So lets get down to basics with the use of the word “couple” used in “that man and woman make a lovely couple,” and “I’ll be there in a couple minutes.” The latter seems to be the biggest one I find in society now. It’s a time based notion but the adjective still means 2 of something. So in truth, when you say “I’ll be there in a couple minutes.” You’re saying “Hold on, this will only take 2 minutes. No more, no less.” So I’m actually going to be offended if you are a minute late since I’m being handled by someone who should never be my accountant. If you are an accountant with this issue, find a new career. Something similar is few which is some or a minority of, so saying “I’m be there in a few minutes”; I’ll be assuming under 30 minutes. However problem with this is that the attention span of an average person is 15-20. So I’m really waiting until I get bored. If you know me, that attention span won’t be so long so “a few” in my little bubble is less than 5 minutes. Also from my little world; a moment. It’s momentary, as in “give me the necessary time to figure this stuff out.” Once again; short attention span so you have 5-10 minutes before I get pissed or annoyed. And if you want to be short, use those. Unrealistic expectations like “be there in a sec” doesn’t really help since it’s unlikely you will be done in one second. In my ear, it’s sounds more like “I have no clue what I’m doing, so it’s more than ‘a sec’.” And it’s really not promising information.

Parenting

I might be in my early 20’s and single, but from my experience as a former child I’m qualified to provide some insight as a receiver of parenting. What works? Pay attention to your kid. Understanding how they thing and their preferences helps with bonding. This is like the simplest thing ever to do. Largest problem comes with this is over-attention resulting to helicopter parenting. Worrying about your child every day is likely not the best way to go since it doesn’t benefit you or your child. Big point being it doesn’t establish trust between you and junior. So how can they move on with confidence if you’re hounding them every step of the way. You wouldn’t want them to be stalked, so why are you stalking them? Once you stop flying overhead them, you might want to apologize. Well I can say for sure, food doesn’t buy you love. However all food does is buy you a chubby child with a sedative lifestyle where they will demand food while they live said sedative life. If anything, just back off a bit; that’s it! If they want attention, you should know it because you’ve been bonding with your child.

Sugar. “Oh sugar makes your kid hyper.” You forgot to add in “maybe permanent”. When I was a kid, I had my first soda at 5 and now I’m kind of hyper when I have a sip. Not a bad thing to be hyper time to time. But if your kid starts to have trouble paying attention or just flipping out by just sucking down sucrose, then maybe you have to start being the sugar nazi and just say “no sugar for you!” Not saying it’s a bad thing to have sugar; just not too much and try and lay off artificial sugars. While we’re at it, I would like to mention there is no such thing as “natural flavouring”. If it was naturally flavoured, it wouldn’t be mentioned. Having it on the ingredients label just means “Look! More sugar!” And don’t associate sugar with rewards. That totally makes it like cocaine for children. If you ever seen lab rats on drugs. For me, not personally; but they act all crazy and always looking for their fix. I can be a slight paranoid but it’s what I felt when and still feel. In short, stay away like it was fast food and junk food.

On subject of positive reinforcement, it’s amazing what it can do. Giving a child something to help to strive for their goal. I don’t mean just saying “you can do it!” But more in terms of talking about it and bonding to see where they are with that dream. Of course child dreams don’t last forever but you never know. A little bit of each dream survives in the ultimate career goal. Just nurture it and not put down your kid, unless they’re a bit older and have more realistic idea and logic. Don’t pressure for what you think they should be, but suggest what they can be. Life is about exploring, let ‘em explore it.

Specific Stores and Shopping

This section is more of a rant on places I go and things I buy, not really an overall deal like so far. However customer service is a big deal. I like an organic approach to it. I hate dealing with outsourced or computerized representatives. Either they’re hard to deal with or it wouldn’t understand a single thing I’ve said. Also tech support shouldn’t be so tucked away. I’m looking at you, electronics companies. Don’t leave it in the maze of pre-recorded messages, put it along with customer service. Most of my problems when I call in isn’t about billing or anything account related. Most of the time it’s a glitch or bug I can’t get around or something weird happened and I’ve exhausted every idea. Either put it up there as a priority or maybe get out electronics because tech is hardest thing to find on your customer service line.

KFC; a internet meme once said “y u no cheap?” So why is 15 pieces of chicken so expensive for the price. I know the skin is nice and delicious but that “moist” meat is more like a wet sponge of blandness. I ate better chicken wings from Wing Machine better than your poultry picks. Maybe it’s time to abandon the great escapade of the Colonel’s secret recipe chicken. Keep it on the menu but have something new and refreshing. A new freaking recipe than just adding stuff to it. Even with 15 for $25 I can have a more delicious meal two blocks over in Koreatown. Probably get more beef with sides for 25 bucks. Likely if I had that much money, I would treat friends into a nice meal not involving fried femurs and potato-poultry combos.

Besides from fast eats grief, Gamestop. Also know as EB Games here in Canada. Why do you guys have such a bad collection of game cards? I know they’re services for a large amount of popular games. But it doesn’t encompass what you can really do with it. Get Steam of this, I would love to buy Steam cards I can redeem for games. What about just have redeemable online cash cards? Just buy the card and if you wanted to buy something, you use the card to redeem for that amount of money. Some games you can’t get at any game store and you would just have to buy it online. They got the big names, but some indies should get some face time so this might help that out. Also you can put some suggestive advertising on the card so people would buy the card and might buy the game advertised. Seriously, good idea; why not?

Who knows, maybe change will happen from this. Or lots of pissed off people will question it and get pissed off that this stuff happens. Until next time, ask why.